And to all a good night.....

First of all, a Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you enjoyed your holidays and spent them with those that you love the most. We had a wonderful and blessed Christmas this year, but are exhausted from it!

We started off by going up to Chico on the 23rd to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my mom's side of the family. They are a great group that we just don't get to see often enough! Alex wore himself out playing with his cousins Jack and Nick who are 11 and 9. Jack and Nick were also thrilled to meet their newest cousin Amelia who they hadn't see yet.



We took lots of great pictures Christmas Eve night....as you can see.





Then we had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner and then opened presents that night, as is tradition in my family. Who would have known there was a recession going on??!! My goodness! As you can see there were plenty of presents to go around.



This morning we opened our Santa presents. Alex was beyond excited that he got what he had asked Santa for, a Little Einstein's red rocket. It was funny though because as soon as he opened it up he was done - he said "I don't need anymore presents, thanks." Note to Santa for next year....



After Christmas breakfast we packed up and went to go see my dad's side of the family in Sacramento. We visited my grandma and aunts and more cousins. Amelia and Olivia got to see each other during both of their first Christmas's!



After leaving my grandma's house we went to see Grandma and Papa Toy who used to babysit me as a kid! They adopted me into their family and are like a second set of parents to me so we always like to stop by and visit them whenever we can. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas lunch at their house and they spoiled Alex and Amelia (as well as Paul and I!) as usual!

On our way home the kids were cranky as were Paul and I but I reflected on how fortunate we are to have one another and a loving family. I know it sounds so corny but when I look at all the sadness in the world, and I see plenty of it in my line of work, it really makes me appreciate having such wonderful family and friends to spend the holidays with.

And speaking of fortunate....we are off the the beach for a week on Saturday! Lovely Cambria and Moonstone Beach! It will be a crazy day tomorrow of laundry and packing then repacking but we are excited! Stay tuned for beach pics!